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Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
| writer = Kevin Smith | starring = | music = James L. Venable | cinematography = Yaron Levy | editing = Kevin Smith | studio = | distributor = s official UK website] }} | released = | runtime = 105 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $10 million | gross = $3.5 million }} Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is a 2019 American buddy comedy film written, directed, edited and starring Kevin Smith. Referring to his 2001 comedy Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Smith has described the film as "literally the same fuсking movie all over again". It is the eighth film in the View Askewniverse. The film also stars Jason Mewes, and features cameos from Jason Lee, Shannon Elizabeth, Rosario Dawson and Ben Affleck. It was theatrically released with sessions around North America on October 15 and 17, 2019 and had the second highest per-screen average of 2019 (behind ''Parasite''), thanks to its ongoing travelling roadshow. Plot Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith) lose a court case to Saban Films, who are making a new Bluntman and Chronic film, Bluntman V Chronic. The two also learn they have lost their naming rights, and can no longer self-identify as "Jay and Silent Bob." Jay and Bob visit Brodie Bruce (Jason Lee), who tells them about the Bluntman and Chronic reboot, which is being directed by Kevin Smith. The film is largely completed, but a major scene is to be shot at the annual fan convention “Chronic-Con” in Hollywood. Jay and Bob have three days to get to Los Angeles to stop the film from being completed and win back their identities. The two depart for California. They arrive in Chicago, where Jay learns his former girlfriend Justice (Shannon Elizabeth) works as a local weatherperson. Jay and Bob visit Justice, who tells Jay he left her heartbroken by never visiting her in jail. She has since married and given birth to their love child, Millennium "Milly" Faulken (Harley Quinn Smith). She introduces Jay to their daughter and her best friend Soapy (Treshelle Edmond), but urges him to never reveal his identity to her. Justice leaves for vacation, and Milly forces Jay to take her and Soapy to Hollywood with him and Bob. Milly drugs Jay and Bob with a strong edible, and they wake up on a highway in New Orleans, where they meet Milly's two other friends, Jihad (Aparna Brielle) and Shan Yu (Alice Wen). They tell Jay that they want to visit Chronic-Con because Shan Yu is a huge fan of the first Bluntman and Chronic film and it is her dream to attend Chronic-Con. They steal a van and drive to California. Milly admits to Jay that her bad behavior is attributed to her never knowing her father. Jay and Bob are abandoned by the group, and set off in search of the van. They find it in a vacant area, where the Ku Klux Klan have kidnapped the girls and are having a rally. Bob steals a klan hood and passes himself off as the new Grand Dragon to distract them while Jay rescues the girls. They throw a portable toilet at the Klansmen and flee. The group makes it to Chronic-Con and sneak in. Jay and Bob plan to ruin the shoot, while the girls want to be extras in the film to fulfill Shan Yu's dream. They agree to part ways, with Jay hugging Milly and letting her know he is proud of her. Jay and Bob hide in an empty panel room where they are met by Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck), who has just finished recording a podcast with Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams). Holden has donated his sperm to Alyssa and her wife (Virginia Smith) so they may have a child, whom he helps co-parent. Holden tells Jay that fatherhood gave him a new purpose. This inspires Jay to abort their mission and be a father to Milly. Holden gives them VIP badges, which grants him and the girls access to the panel with Kevin Smith. Noticing that Bob bears a resemblance to Smith, Milly sneaks backstage and knocks out Smith, giving Smith's clothes to Bob as a disguise. They bring Milly and Shan Yu on stage to film the scene, but Shan Yu sees through their ruse and knocks Bob unconscious, bringing out the real Kevin Smith. Bob is thrown out of the hall and Shan Yu reveals herself to be a Russian spy, bent on destroying American pop culture conventions. Jay reveals to Milly that he is her father. Bob regains consciousness outside and steals a large metal "Iron Bob" suit that was to be used in the filming of the scene. Controlling the suit, Bob incites a riot at the panel and disarms Shan Yu and her henchmen. After making their way back home, Jay shows Milly the Quick Stop and tells her the stories of his and Bob's adventures, including meeting Justice. Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) arrives to open Quick Stop and bemoans the fact that the steel shutters are once again jammed closed. In a post-credits scene, Jay tells Milly that for the past twenty-five years, he and Bob have been pranking Dante by jamming gum in the locks. Cast * Jason Mewes as Jay * Kevin Smith as Silent Bob and Himself * Harley Quinn Smith as Millennium "Milly" Faulken, Jay's estranged daughter, and a member of the girl gang * Aparna Brielle as Jihad, a Muslim girl sent to the US by her mother; a member of the girl gang * Shannon Elizabeth as Justice Faulken, Milly's mother and Reggie's wife * Brian O'Halloran as Dante Hicks, Grant Hicks and Himself * Jason Lee as Brodie Bruce * Joey Lauren Adams as Alyssa Jones * Jennifer Schwalbach Smith as Miss McKenzie, a Mooby's manager * Treshelle Edmond as Soapy, a member of the girl gang * Alice Wen as Shan Yu, a Chinese girl and Bluntman and Chronic superfan; a member of the girl gang * Craig Robinson as Judge Jerry N. Executioner * Joe Manganiello as Bailiff * Frankie Shaw as Prosecutor * Justin Long as Brandon St. Randy, both Jay and Silent Bob's and Saban Films' lawyer; Long reprises his role from Zack and Miri Make a Porno. * Donnell Rawlings as SWAT Captain * David Dastmalchian as SWAT Officer * Chris Jericho as the KKK Grand Wizard * Kate Micucci as Mary, a Mooby's empolyee * Diedrich Bader as Gordon, a diligent security guard * Melissa Benoist as Reboot Chronic * Val Kilmer as Reboot Bluntman * Tommy Chong as Alfred * Ben Affleck as Holden McNeil * Matt Damon as Loki * Fred Armisen as Todd "Merkin" Merkinsky, a Ride Me Now driver * Molly Shannon as Joline, an airline receptionist * Ralph Garman as Ted Underhill, an arrogant businessman whose credit card information Jay and Silent Bob steal. * Rosario Dawson as Reggie Faulken, Justice's wife * Adam Brody as Chronic-Con Hot Topic salesman * Dan Fogler as Chronic-Con line attendant A number of Hollywood stars make cameos as themselves, including Jason Biggs and James Van Der Beek, similar to their appearance in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Method Man and Redman in Jay and Silent Bob's hallucination, Chris Hemsworth via a holographic projection at Chronic-Con, Robert Kirkman during the credits, Keith Coogan, and Stan Lee, who makes a posthumous appearance in a mid-credits scene through the use of archive footage of himself and Smith taken from San Diego Comic-Con. In addition to playing the roles of Dante and Grant Hicks, Brian O'Halloran also appears as himself alongside Marilyn Ghigliotti, Ernie O'Donnell, Scott Schiaffo, and John Willyung for a Clerks 25th Anniversary panel at Chronic-Con. Walt Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Ming Chen, and Mike Zapcic appear as themselves during a Comic Book Men reunion panel. Actors Chris Wood, Jesse Rath, Ben Gleib, Impractical Jokers’ Brian Quinn and Fatman Beyond co-host Marc Bernardin appear as convention attendees. In a mid-credits scene, Jake Richardson and Nick Fehlinger reprise their roles from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back as the two young men that used to buy marijuana from Jay and Silent Bob. Production Following Clerks II, news has appeared often of other titles to be released in the View Askewniverse; these would include Clerks III and Mallrats 2. In 2017, Kevin Smith had confirmed that those projects were cancelled for several reasons, but revealed he had written a new film starring Jay and Silent Bob titled Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. The script was already finished when it was announced and it was said that Miramax would produce it. It was announced on January 25, 2019 that Saban Films had acquired distribution rights to the film in association with Universal Pictures. It is the first film in the View Askewniverse not to be produced by Scott Mosier, and the first film in the View Askewniverse since Mallrats not to be produced by Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Filming Filming was initially set to begin mid-2017, then moved to August 2018, then to November of that same year. After the various delays, filming finally began on February 25, 2019 in New Orleans exactly one year after Smith suffered a massive and near-fatal heart attack. During the filming of the movie, Smith released a weekly documentary called Road to Reboot, showing what is being filmed that week. Production wrapped on March 27, 2019 after 21 days of shooting, which was the same number of days it took Smith to film his first movie, Clerks, 26 years earlier. Casting Mewes and Smith were attached to star as early as the film's announcement. Comic book writer Stan Lee was initially cast as himself in the film in July 2017,WATCH STAN LEE PERFORM A SCENE FROM JAY & SILENT BOB SEQUEL WITH KEVIN SMITH but due to his death on November 12, 2018, Lee will instead get a tribute within the film at Brodie Bruce's comics shop. The film's original third act was to revolve around Lee, with an extended performance from him as a main character; however, given principal photography on the film did not commence until three months after Lee's death, the entire third act of the script was rewritten. Ben Affleck was initially not involved in the film at all, due to a feud with Smith. When Affleck was asked in an interview on if he got the call for Reboot, he said that "Your guess is as good as mine." After hearing about that interview, Smith wrote in a scene with Affleck's character Holden McNeil and wrote in a mini-sequel to his 1997 film Chasing Amy. Smith became more excited for that not only did he get Affleck in the film, but that he also got his "... BOYFRIEND BACK!" Release Theatrical The film was released on October 15, 2019, as part of two Fathom Events showings. The first showing on October 15 gave away a limited edition poster of the film, and the second on October 17 was a double feature with Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Roadshow Following the Fathom showings, Smith embarked on a North American roadshow tour with a presentation of the film, followed by a Q&A session. The roadshow began on October 19 in Asbury Park, New Jersey and will continue until February 26, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The tour will expand internationally near the beginning of 2020. Home media The film became available on Blu-ray, DVD, and streaming on January 21, 2020. The United States home media releases were distributed by Lionsgate Home Entertainment. Reception On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 67% based on 29 reviews, with a weighted average of 6.58/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Fan-focused to a fault, Jay & Silent Bob Reboot tries to mock the same audience nostalgia it's mining -- and pulls it off often enough to satisfy the faithful." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". JoBlo.com's Paul Shirey gave the film an 8/10 and stated, "As comedy is so exceptionally subjective and this film so clearly tied to a somewhat niche appeal, I can only grade it as a fully biased fan of Smith, even if some of his flicks never worked for me, while others touched my cinematic nerve. As a fully Kevin Smith/Jay and Silent Bob comedy with a hefty amount of laughs and heart, this View Askew flick rates among his better works and cemented my resolve to happily revisit these wacky Jersey boys in another decade or so with pleasure." Writing for The A.V. Club, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky called this installment "crude and lazy", giving it a D+ for crass humor and summing up the plot as "a succession of crudely drawn-out puns, painfully winking self-references, and underwhelming, listlessly directed cameos". References External links * * * Jay and Silent Bob Reboot on Rotten Tomatoes Category:American films Category:American black comedy films Category:American buddy comedy films Category:American comedy films Category:American films about cannabis Category:English-language films Category:Films about filmmaking Category:Films directed by Kevin Smith Category:Films set in New Jersey Category:Films set in San Diego Category:Films shot in New Orleans Category:Miramax films Category:Red Bank, New Jersey in fiction Category:View Askew Productions films Category:View Askewniverse films Category:Film scores by James L. Venable